Pumpkin Picking with Murder By Auralee Wallace: Review/Giveaway

Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win a copy of Pumpkin Picking with Murder. We also have a link to order it from Amazon, and from an indie bookstore where a portion goes to help support KRL.

Eight years ago, Erica Bloom fled Otter Lake in embarrassment, leaving behind her reputation as Boobsie Bloom, the daughter of a hippie and the girl who accidentally flashed an audience during the Raspberry Social. In Chicago Erica was able to blend in anonymously as anyone she wanted to be, whereas in New Hampshire she was the quick-tempered, stressed-out, daughter of a hippy. She’s put those issues behind her—mostly—and has returned for one week in the hopes of resolving her long distance relationship with former crush Sheriff Grady Forrester.

Fate has different plans for Erica, as during the Fall Festival she and her best friend Freddie Ng have the bad luck to discover the body of Mr. Masterson in the Tunnel of Love. His being found with Erica’s eccentric surrogate aunt Tweety is certainly disconcerting, but not as upsetting as the fact that his death may have been murder. Despite Erica’s vow to focus on plans with Grady, and both Tweety and her twin Kit Kat warning Erica to stay uninvolved, there’s very little chance of either happening. Now that the wealthy, Asian, and gay Freddie has managed to get himself hired as Otter Lake’s Security CEO, a company of one, he’s taking his fellow former outcast along for the ride to clear Tweety, solve a decades old mystery, and perhaps discern Erica’s true place in life.

The second in the Otter Lake Mystery continues to deliver hilarious scenarios that succeed in blending in with moments of serious emotional resonance. Freddie may be dressed as a seventies’ porn version of a sheriff, but he’s not wrong in his assertions that when investigating, he and Erica finally feel alive and at home. As Erica comes to realize, what good are all the options in Chicago if she never uses them? Readers will thoroughly enjoy the chaos as Erica slowly embraces Otter Lake and its residents, although her mother’s Silence of the Soul retreat strains all of Erica’s very limited skills at playing charade. Destiny does seem intent on throwing snafus in the path of the two star-crossed lovers, and Erica may have to choose between detecting and a life with Grady. The surplus of suspects will challenge Erica, Freddie, and even Grady, with events steadily build towards a truly suspenseful conclusion. Readers will embrace Otter Creek and its quirks, and the delightful characters and clever dialogue never failing to entertain.

To enter to win a signed copy of Pumpkin Picking with Murder, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “picking,” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen October 1, 2016. U.S. residents only. If entering via email please include your mailing address, and if via comment please include your email address.

Check out other mystery articles, reviews, book giveaways & short stories in our mystery section.

Click on this link to purchase this book & a portion goes to help support KRL & an indie bookstore Mysterious Galaxy:

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Cynthia Chow is the branch manager of Kaneohe Public Library on the island of Oahu. She balances a librarian lifestyle of cardigans and hair buns with a passion for motorcycle riding and regrettable tattoos (sorry, Mom).

I chatted online with this author and asked whether Auralee was a family name. She said it came from an Elvis Presley song. In any case I think her name is lovely and makes it easier to remember her series.

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